On Thursday, October 15, 2009, Western Carolina University celebrated the conclusion
of Creating Extraordinary Opportunities: The Campaign for Western Carolina by announcing
grand total of $51,826,915 in private giving for endowed scholarships, professorships
and programmatic support.

The tally, revealed as part of an afternoon of events to celebrate the conclusion
of The Campaign for Western Carolina, is more than $11 million above the $40 million
goal announced when the campaign was publicly launched in February 2007.

“We have come further and progressed faster than we could have imagined when this
campaign began,” WCU Chancellor John W. Bardo said. “Not only have we reached our
goal, but we have far exceeded it. We had hoped to be able to raise $40 million by
2010, and here we are announcing more than $51 million on Oct. 15, 2009, a most historic
day in the life of our university.”